Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Stuffed Flank Steak

      I’ve watched the boy make this stuffed flank steak for me before. When I wanted to try it at home, I called him for the recipe. All I got was, “Stuff it, roll it, fry it.” Simple instructions for a meal that looks like a hundred bucks. I used everything I found in my fridge before I went away for the weekend. If the flank could have talked, it would have begged for me to stop.

      Ingredients:
      1 flank steak, butterflied and tenderized
      small red bell pepper, julienned
      small green bell pepper, julienned
      1/2 pound of crimini mushrooms, sliced
      several slices of prosciutto and soppresatta
      4 cloves of garlic, crushed, finely chopped
      1 small red onion, finely chopped
      1/2 cup breadcrumbs
      a handful of parsley, finely chopped
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Preheat oven to 350º. In a hot skillet, heat olive oil and sauté garlic and onions. Add peppers and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until mushrooms are soft. Add parsley and season with salt and pepper.
      2. Lay steak out flat and add a layer of prosciutto and soppresatta. Top with the bell pepper and mushroom mixture. Slowly roll the steak up like a big sushi roll, pulling at the ends so it’s not too thick in the middle. Tie with kitchen string to pack the stuffing in. Brush with oil.
      3. In a hot skillet, heat more olive oil and brown all sides of the stuffed flank steak for some color. Do not over fry to avoid hardening the meat. Transfer to a shallow baking dish. Brush with more oil and bake until medium-rare. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Cut strings off. Slice into 3/4-inch pieces and serve.

      Related post/s:
      How about stuffed vegetables?

    • Baked Stuffed Peppers

      These baked stuffed peppers were a good start to jerk chicken.

      Ingredients:
      2 small red bell peppers, halved lengthwise through stem, seeded
      1 small box of cherry tomatoes, halved
      crumbled feta cheese
      10 leaves of basil
      a handful of fresh thyme
      pepper, olive oil

      1. Preheat oven to 400º. In a large bowl, toss tomatoes, feta, basil and thyme. Season with pepper.
      2. Place bell peppers on a baking dish. Fill each with tomato and feta mixture. Drizzle with olive oil.
      3. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an extra 15 minutes or until tomatoes burst and feta looks a little browned. Serve warm.

      Related post/s:
      Jerk Chicken

    • Jerk Chicken

      I can now truly respect mothers who work full-time and still manage to cook a decent meal for her family at the end of the day. After work yesterday, I ran to Di Palo’s to get my usual cheeses and meats. I was uptown soon after picking last-minute grocery items. I had two hours to cook dinner for Tita Pat and Tito Square who are both in town from Manila. I have never felt so taranta in the kitchen. After a few fuck-ups, I paused and told myself to calm the hell down or nothing will ever come out right. So I poured myself a shot of Glenlivet 12 on the rocks to take the edge off. Then, I was ready. I multi-tasked in the kitchen for the next hour and a half. The bell rang as soon as I started heating up the Le Creuset for the jerk chicken. The dozen or so pieces took a while because I had to brown them before baking them, to get the marinade all sticky and, well, I guess, jerky. But the guest couple of the night brought their nieces and nephews with them, so all seven of us were chit-chatting while the chicken was cooking. I served these with yellow rice spiced with thyme and garlic. It was a lot of work, but expect high spirits while you watch your guests devour everything. Use disposable gloves when chopping the Scotch bonnet chiles and rubbing the chicken pieces because you don’t want to accidentally touch your face while you’re cooking. Trust me on that.

      Ingredients:
      12 pieces chicken, drumsticks and wings
      3 fresh Scotch bonnet chiles, seeded and finely chopped
      1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
      8 scallions, coarsely chopped
      6 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
      3 tbsps fresh thyme, finely chopped
      1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
      2 tbsps ground allspice
      1 1/4 tsps ground nutmeg
      1 tsp ground cinnamon
      1/2 cup white vinegar
      1/4 cup soy sauce
      1/4 cup fresh lime juice
      1/4 cup vegetable oil
      salt, pepper

      1. Make jerk marinade. Process chiles, scallions, garlic and thyme in food processor until pastey. Add brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, oil. Season with salt and pepper. Process until smooth.
      2. Transfer 1/3 of the marinade in an airtight container and set aside for brushing chicken when ready.
      3. Transfer the remaining marinade in a large bowl. Add chicken, coating and rubbing marinade all over chicken pieces and under skin. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Allow chicken to come to room temperature before cooking.
      4. When ready, preheat oven to 350º. Heat a large skillet and add oil. When oil is hot, add chicken pieces to brown both sides, about 30 minutes. Do this a few pieces at a time to avoid overcrowding and use fresh oil for every batch. Discard used marinade.
      5. Transfer browned chicken to a baking dish. Brush generously with remaining unused marinade and bake until cook through, about 15 minutes.

      Related post/s:
      Serve baked stuffed peppers beforehand

    • Blackberry-Red Wine Gelée

      After my first successful try at making gelée, I decided to try this Martha Stewart Living recipe. I served it as dessert when family friends from Manila visited New York City. It didn’t match the jerk chicken main course but that’s why I think they were tickled to be eating it to end their night.

      Ingredients:
      1/2 cup apple juice
      1 packet unflavored gelatin
      1 cup full-bodied red wine, like Zinfandel
      1/4 cup sugar
      1 pint blackberries

      1. Prepare an ice-water bath. Set aside.
      2. Add 1/2 cup water and apple juice in a bowl. Sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften for about 5 minutes.
      3. Combine wine and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat while stirring to dissolve sugar. Add blackberries, leaving some for garnish, and simmer in reduced heat. Crush blackberries as you stir.
      4. Remove saucepan from heat. Slowly stir in hot wine mixture with the gelatin mixture. Transfer bowl to ice-water bath and stir gently to cool.
      5. Pour mixture into a plastic bowl to mold. Chill until firm and ready to use.
      6. When ready, unmold gelée and top with a blackberry and a mint leaf.

      Related post/s:
      Jerk Chicken

    • Momofuku Noodle Bar

      163 1st Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets
      212/475-7899
      about $80 for two, with two drinks, with tip
      ♥ ♥

      Updated, 2007: Momofuku has moved two stores down to make room for the third restaurant in their family, Momofuku Ko

      Momofuku, which means “lucky peach,” is a nicely-designed noodlebar with mostly Japanese and Korean-influenced dishes plus a touch of Chinese. It reminded me of London’s Wagamama, which means “naughty child” in Nihongo, famous for their inexpensive and quick fast food as for their interior’s design.

      We shared a plate of baby bok choy, flash-fried in hot oil, garlic and chilis–a good start to whet the appetite. Since it was almost a hundred degrees out, I picked the Momofuku somen with chilled noodles and dipping broth. My bowl came with mushrooms and very yummy shredded Berkshire pork which reminded me of leftover Filipino lechon, or roast pork. It’s a huge serving and more than enough for my hungry self. My companion opted for the pork neck ramen with neck meat and poached egg. It was also delicious. Both were served with scallions and menma, or bamboo shoots.

      Even if it looks like a ramenya, a place that sells ramen in Japan, any new visitor would be glad to know that it just isn’t that. Dishes change seasonally, just like David Chang, owner and chef, learned at Craft. The noodles are not soggy and they have the right firmness and tenderness. There are buns, kimchi chigae, or fermented vegetables in soybean paste soup, and Sichuan-spiced crawfish in the menu.

      I normally cook the baby bok choy at home when they are in season, so I thought the $8 price was pretty steep. Our tall Hefeweizens were also $10 apiece. In fact, everything is priced twice as much as its counterparts along St. Marks. Alas, this is New York City and this is the lower east side.

    • Corner Bistro

      331 West 4th Street at Jane
      212/242.9502
      about $45 for two, with a few drinks, with tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      Possibly the best burgers in New York City besides Le Parker Meridien’s, people wait at Corner Bistro not just for the $2.50 McSorley’s but also for the Bistro Burger, a slab of juicy beef so big you can barely flatten it to put it in your mouth. The best part of it all is that it comes with crispy bacon and onions.

      Related post/s:
      Le Parker Meridien Burger Joint

    • Falai

      60 Clinton Street between Rivington and Stanton
      212/253.1960
      about $100 for two, with two drinks, without tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      I rarely go to an Italian restaurant because I can’t, and don’t want to, eat a whole big bowl of pasta. Falai serves the familiar but transcends at the same time because of the imaginative use of ingredients.

      Rich chicken livers were served with a fluff of polenta but also surrounded with chanterelles. The baby octopus did not come with vinaigrette but instead cooked with caramelized Gaeta olives for that mildly sweet taste. Eggplants fried in batter sounded off-putting in 90-degree weather but they were sliced so thin and done so lightly, perfectly. For our main course, we split the ravioli squid ink pasta stuffed with pine nuts, scallops, white asparagus fonduta and baked zucchini. It was heavenly.

      Before chef Iacopo Falai managed the kitchen of Bread TriBeCa, he was the pastry chef at Le Cirque 2000. He pays tributes to his roots with the restaurant’s dessert menu, but alas, we had to settle for a dainty strawberry sorbet because we still had glasses of Veltliner and Tocai and Prosecco to finish.

    • Scallop Salad with Saffron Dressing

      I’m not a big fan of mayo so I used the light kind for this recipe. Make sure you serve this as soon as you plate it so that the mayo doesn’t look curdled and the greens do not wilt.

      Ingredients:
      6 scallops
      pinch of saffron threads
      1/4 cup light mayonnaise
      1 1/2 tbsps of cream
      1 tsp lemon juice
      butter
      olive oil
      mixed greens

      1. To make the dressing, place saffron threads in a bowl and soak in 2 tsps of hot water for ten minutes. Add mayo and mix well until rich yellow. Stir in the cream and then lemon juice. Refrigerate until needed.
      2. Heat butter and olive oil in a hot skillet. Sear scallops, about 2 minutes each side.
      3. Serve scallops on a bed of mixed greens. Top with saffron dressing.

    • Lamb Salad with Mint and Dill

      I know I have a lot of favorites, but this is really one of them. I loved the fact that a dish with game can still be fresh and light just by adding mint leaves and julienned summer vegetables.

      Ingredients:
      lamb fillets
      1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
      half a red bell pepper, julienned
      half a green bell pepper, julienned
      half a cucumber, julienned
      handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
      handful of fresh dill, roughly chopped
      fresh lemon juice
      2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Combine the vegetables in a large bowl with the mint and dill.
      2. Heat a frying pan, add olive oil. When oil is hot, fry lamb fillets until tender but still pink, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Set aside for about 5 minutes. When cool, thinly slice the lamb and toss in the salad.
      3. In a screw-top jar, combine lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Shake well. Pour in salad and toss lightly.

    • Crab Salad with Tomato-Sake Gelée

      This was a sweet recipe from Amanda Hesser of The New York Times. Sweet, as in, new and exciting. I made it as an appetizer for a party I threw for my Dominican and Ecuadorian girlfriends. You can use cheap sake for this but definitely get the good-quality and real crab meat from your fishmonger.

      Ingredients:
      3 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
      1/4 cup of sake
      1 pound of crab meat
      1 packet of unflavored gelatin, softened in 2 tbsps water
      zest of 1 lemon
      juice of half a lemon
      8 basil leaves, thinly sliced
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Purée tomatoes in a food processor. Strain through a sieve into a saucepan. It should lead about 1 cup. Add the sake and heat over medium-low fire until warm. Season with a little salt.
      2. Remove from heat and stir in softened gelatin until fully dissolved. Pour into a plastic bowl to mold. Chill until firm and ready to use.
      3. Just before serving, combine crab meat, zest, lemon juice, olive oil and basil leaves in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly. Place a small mound on a plate.
      4. Unmold gelée and chop into triangles. Place next to the crab salad.

      Related post/s:
      Where to buy crab meat

    • Sesame-Coated Tuna with Cilantro Salsa

      Ingredients:
      1 tuna steak
      1/4 cup sesame seeds
      2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
      1 garlic clove, crushed and finely chopped
      1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
      1 tbsp lime juice
      arugula or other mixed greens
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Cut tuna steak in thick chunks. Roll in sesame seeds to coat. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
      2. For the salsa, combine tomatoes, garlic, oil, lime juice in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
      3. Heat a frying pan and add olive oil. When oil is hot, fry tuna until tender but still pink in the center, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and drain on paper towels.
      4. Serve on top of greens and spoon the salsa on the side. Season with salt and pepper.

      Related post/s:
      Cool Food at Amazon.com

    • Chicken with Mint and Cilantro Dressing

      This was one of the best dishes I’ve ever had to cook and eat alone. I served this on top of kimchi-flavored fried rice.

      Ingredients:
      chicken breast fillet
      handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
      handful of cilantro, finely chopped
      half a cucumber, cut through center and thinly sliced
      handful of snap peas, blanched
      2 stalks of scallions, sliced diagonally
      2 tbsps rice wine
      1 tbsp soy sauce
      1 tbsp lemon juice
      2 tbsps sweet chili sauce
      salt, pepper

      1. Coat chicken fillets with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.
      2. Combine mint leaves, cilantro, cucumber, snap peas and scallions in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
      3. Heat a frying pan and add olive oil. When oil is hot, fry chicken until cooked through, about 8 minutes per side. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Set aside. When cool, slice the chicken diagonally and toss with the vegetables.
      4. For the dressing, combine rice wine, soy sauce, lemon juice and sweet chili sauce. Pour over the chicken and the vegetables and toss until well coated.

      Related post/s:
      Kimchi for kimchi-flavored fried rice